Netflix series: Formula 1:Drive to Survive
- Thread starter KingOfBBN
- Start date
I did, but I think I might one of the very few F1 fans who post here.
I thought it wasn’t bad. Initially was disappointed that Ferrari and Mercedes refused to participate, so that lowered my expectations for it several months ago. Although, I think their absence might have actually made it a better show.
Was awesome to get more detail on the Renault and Red Bull fallout. There were some snarky comments from the pit wall and during press conferences last year, but had no idea it got to be that toxic. There were some seriously awkward moments between Christian and Cyril that Netflix were able to catch.
They’re filming a second season for this, so looking forward to the next one. Haas had another botched pit stop and wheel come off of Grosjean’s car during yesterday’s Australian Grand Prix (same thing that happened last year). Dying to see what Guenther Steiner has to say about that.
I think this series is probably much better if you’re not that familiar with F1 already, which is probably a good thing in terms of trying to grow the sport in the US. Would encourage any non-F1 fans to give it a shot.
I thought it wasn’t bad. Initially was disappointed that Ferrari and Mercedes refused to participate, so that lowered my expectations for it several months ago. Although, I think their absence might have actually made it a better show.
Was awesome to get more detail on the Renault and Red Bull fallout. There were some snarky comments from the pit wall and during press conferences last year, but had no idea it got to be that toxic. There were some seriously awkward moments between Christian and Cyril that Netflix were able to catch.
They’re filming a second season for this, so looking forward to the next one. Haas had another botched pit stop and wheel come off of Grosjean’s car during yesterday’s Australian Grand Prix (same thing that happened last year). Dying to see what Guenther Steiner has to say about that.
I think this series is probably much better if you’re not that familiar with F1 already, which is probably a good thing in terms of trying to grow the sport in the US. Would encourage any non-F1 fans to give it a shot.
Last edited:
Would also add that if you enjoyed this series, then you should consider watching Senna. It’s the best F1 documentary I’ve ever seen and possibly the best racing documentary period.
I still can't find the Netflix channel. Is it on Telecable?
I haven't seen it yet but I am looking forward to hearing what Kimi Raikkonan is saying over the radio that they bleep out on TV.
I enjoyed Senna but my favorite F1 doc is 1: Life On the Limit. Goes back to the period of rule change to bigger engines=faster cars but pre ww2 safety precautions.
I haven't seen this series but have planned on it. I'm a casual fan now but started watching when I was about 10 and caught every race I could in the late 70s through the 80s.
I haven't seen this series but have planned on it. I'm a casual fan now but started watching when I was about 10 and caught every race I could in the late 70s through the 80s.
I enjoyed watching that one as well, but there were a couple things that bothered me about Life on the Limit.
One, I get that safety was the through line for the documentary, but it felt like much of the late 70s through the 80s were an afterthought. But that was still a very dangerous period. The 80s had some of the most insanely powerful cars ever (BMW was building 1.5L 4 cylinders with 1,100 HP in cars with little downforce). And guys like Gilles Villeneuve never show up in the documentary.
And while they were able to talk about Jim Clark to tee up why his death was so shocking, they kind of glossed over Senna who’s death was equally shocking. It was Senna’s death that spurred the FIA to get serious about safety. And not just for racers. A lot of the safety improvements implemented by auto manufacturers were driven by Max Mosley’s FIA initiatives.
And that period had an insane amount of legenadary drivers competing against each other. Senna alone raced against Lauda, Piquet, Prost, Schumacher, Hakkinen, Mansell and Hill. Those drivers won 21 combined world championships. That fact that many of them regard Senna as the best ever is why F1 is as safe as it is today. I don’t see how you can include so little of that in a documentary about how safety has evolved.
The other issue, and maybe this is just me, is that Life on the Limit just felt a little too congratulatory of Mosley and Ecclestone. Yes, they helped drive through improvements, but the documentary positions them as guardian angels of racing drivers and that feels a little too much like propaganda to me. However, that may just be me on that last point.
I didn't get that it praised Ecclestone at all regarding safety concerns. I believe many in the sport were concerned about safety but few were able to do anything about it. Money and testing went into one thing, cutting time. Mosley was certainly an early champion for change and as his role and position changed, so did his influence.
Villeneuve's death wasn't the only one missed. I felt the decapitations or near decapitations of Koenig and Pryce deserved mention. The Pryce incident is on YouTube btw. Another interesting fact left out was that a driver died in a fire very near where Williamson died in a fire during the Dutch GP 3 years prior.
Villeneuve's death wasn't the only one missed. I felt the decapitations or near decapitations of Koenig and Pryce deserved mention. The Pryce incident is on YouTube btw. Another interesting fact left out was that a driver died in a fire very near where Williamson died in a fire during the Dutch GP 3 years prior.
Related. Years ago, working in the horseracing business, I spoke once with Julie Revson of the Revlon cosmetics family. I probably shouldn't have mentioned that I was an auto racing fan, but I did. She really wasn't a fan. Both of her brothers were killed racing; Peter in F1 and Doug in an F3 race.
Didn’t know there were any other F1 fans on here.
That drama that went down between Renault and Red Bull was tense.
After the first race, it would appear that Red Bull got the better of them.
That drama that went down between Renault and Red Bull was tense.
After the first race, it would appear that Red Bull got the better of them.
It looks like Mercedes is so far ahead of everyone else that the excitement will have to be found by watching the mid-tiers.
Somebody mentioned Mansell, Andretti called him the worst teammate he ever drove with.
Nigel was a great driver but a colossal dick.
Somebody mentioned Mansell, Andretti called him the worst teammate he ever drove with.
Nigel was a great driver but a colossal dick.
Yeah, the guys in the Williams documentary had some interesting things to say about Mansell. Total ******* to everyone on the team but apparently terrific to his family.
While guys like that generally annoy me, Mansell did gain some respect from me when talking about the day Frank Williams had his accident. Mansell was the one who rode in the ambulance because he knew that if someone needed to make sure the medics did everything to save Williams life, he was best person to get in someone’s face.
I believe the way he put it was something like: “I rode in the ambulance because someone needed to make sure they were sufficiently energized to save Frank’s life”. That softened my view of Mansell a bit.
One of the things that stood out to me is how intense it is that they make them do press conferences together side-by-side. Not a lot of heavy PR crap as you’re used to seeing in the U.S. either.
Watching the interaction between them go from Red Bull feeling good about leaving Renault for Honda only for Renault to turn around and take their driver was a level of drama you’d see in a screenplay.
Mansell has a reputation for being difficult to work with; but Andretti was a bit of a prima donna, too. Haas getting Mansell to jump to Indy Cars as the defending F1 world champion was a huge coup (Yes, Mansell refused to renew his contract with Williams because me didn't want Alain Prost as a teammate and all the other top teams had already filled their seats for 93, he would've found a ride.). Haas knew Nigel was difficult and put all his efforts into keeping him happy, and Mario didn't like it. Another thing is Mansell may have been a huge dick to his coworkers but he cut his crew in on cash bonus money and Andretti didn't like that either.
Just finished it up. I know pay drivers are necessary to keep some teams running but Force India now has two? Perez is legit but they made Stroll out to be a brat. I remember the Marussia teams giving seats to privileged rich kids like Chilton and thinking of Jackie Stewart saying that there are a thousand talented drivers trying to get into formula one who can't even get a shot. Now hoping Ocon gets a full time drive again.
F1 fan? In Kentucky. Thanks. I watched it. The drivers are insane. I can hardly follow their hands in slow motion.
So I'm two episodes in.
Good Lord the HAAS team is a disaster. Dude wrecks under caution trying to get the tires warmed up? Ep 1 both HAAS cars go out cause of a loose wheel. Hilarious
Good Lord the HAAS team is a disaster. Dude wrecks under caution trying to get the tires warmed up? Ep 1 both HAAS cars go out cause of a loose wheel. Hilarious
Just finished it, too
I haven't really followed F1 since the early 90's, so knew only a few of the drivers (Hamilton, Alonso) and not all of the teams.
Comments
- how far Williams has fallen from contender to back marker. I'd like to see Claire Williams succeed, but I don't know
- how aggressive the drivers have become. Maybe I'm just forgetting and it was the same 20 years ago and I know the producers cut their footage to focus on contact and crashes, but it gave the impression that F1 drivers make contact about as much as NASCAR, and fight it out in the pits after (or at least taunt, cuss, and shove.). Youth? Safer cars (tbh it's clear the tire tethers, and HANS, make a huge difference.)
- maybe the coolest moment? Magnussen driving Tony Stewart's outlaw sprint car.
- whose fault were the Haas tire change frak ups? Did they get fired?
- if they're doing the doc again for 2019 (??) it would be great if Ferrari and Mercedes came on board.
I haven't really followed F1 since the early 90's, so knew only a few of the drivers (Hamilton, Alonso) and not all of the teams.
Comments
- how far Williams has fallen from contender to back marker. I'd like to see Claire Williams succeed, but I don't know
- how aggressive the drivers have become. Maybe I'm just forgetting and it was the same 20 years ago and I know the producers cut their footage to focus on contact and crashes, but it gave the impression that F1 drivers make contact about as much as NASCAR, and fight it out in the pits after (or at least taunt, cuss, and shove.). Youth? Safer cars (tbh it's clear the tire tethers, and HANS, make a huge difference.)
- maybe the coolest moment? Magnussen driving Tony Stewart's outlaw sprint car.
- whose fault were the Haas tire change frak ups? Did they get fired?
- if they're doing the doc again for 2019 (??) it would be great if Ferrari and Mercedes came on board.
Mercedes is apparently immune to mechanical failures.
I know it’s silly to cast Scuderia Ferrari in the lovable underdog role, but you had to feel for Leclerc at Bahrain.
I know it’s silly to cast Scuderia Ferrari in the lovable underdog role, but you had to feel for Leclerc at Bahrain.
Never been much of an F1 fan — honestly, have never watched a complete race. Until this thread. We have now watched each of the docs mentioned, and have become F1 fans. So much so that we’re DVRing practices, qualifying, pre-race show and, of course, the race. I’m a lifelong stock car racing fan — dirt first, NASCAR second — but F1 makes NASCAR look like a joke. Dirt late models are still the best racing on the planet, but I’m now seriously looking into F1.
Leclerc’s scenario was heartbreaking, but he still held on for a podium finish. And he no doubt will win soon, and often.
It really is amazing there is racing today after getting an understanding of how deadly it was 40+ years ago. I know deaths still occur but nowhere near the frequency they used too.
Learned (not from the doc) that there is a provision in the F1 revenue sharing agreement that Ferrari gets 5% of total revenue (half from the shareholders and half from the money paid to the teams) on top of the money split up between all the teams. F1 makes $1.8 billion so Ferrari gets a $90 million check just for being Ferrari. Helps when you're paying Vettel $50 million.
Leclerc had his FP2 cut short due to cooling issues. Hopefully that’s not a sign of more reliability issues during the race.
There’s an interesting clip on the ESPN app comparing Ferrari’s and Mercedes’ speed. The Ferrari is massively faster down the back straight and picked up 3 tenths just on the straight. If they were both running similar engine modes and levels of downforce, that’s a pretty eye opening performance gap. Especially when you consider that Mercedes has been pretty dominant in terms of engines over the past five years. Really curious to see how qualifying plays out.
So qualifying went...
Mercedes
Ferrari
Red Bull
Renault
Haas
Verstappen on the radio. I love tasting the tears.
Mercedes
Ferrari
Red Bull
Renault
Haas
Verstappen on the radio. I love tasting the tears.
If Renault doesn’t pick it up I have to wonder how long Cyril will hang on.
Red Bull moving to Honda, overpaying for Ricciardo, and their continued engine problems have to be irritating investors.
Red Bull moving to Honda, overpaying for Ricciardo, and their continued engine problems have to be irritating investors.
Seriously considering a trip to Austin in 2020.
Anybody done it?
Pros Cons suggestions?
Anybody done it?
Pros Cons suggestions?
When a looked a week or two ago there were still a few 2019 tickets left. I’m just too busy this Fall. I’d love to go in 2020. Never have.
So Azerbaijan was another Mercedes 1-2.
Not sure which move has been worse. Ricciardo to Renault or Red Bull promoting Gasly, who's been a disaster.
This season has been pretty damn boring and predictable so far.
Not sure which move has been worse. Ricciardo to Renault or Red Bull promoting Gasly, who's been a disaster.
This season has been pretty damn boring and predictable so far.